SEC Moves in on Defunct Business

WASHINGTON (CN) – The SEC issued cease and desist orders to five people at defunct Leeb Brokerage Services – three registered reps and two supervisors – claiming they aided and abetted unregistered sale of suspicious penny stocks. The SEC complaint cites more than $50 million in questionable trades, including one Leeb customer who wired “more than $30 million in penny stock proceeds to a bank in Liechtenstein, a tax haven.”

New York-based Leeb, which had an office in California, went out of business. The complaint alleges securities violations from 2005 to 2007. The defendants are Ronald S. Bloomfield, 62, of Westlake Village, Calif.; Robert Gorgia, 60, of Succasunna, N.J.; Victor Labi, 42, of Eastchester, N.Y.; John Earl Martin Sr., 67, of South Pasadena, Calif.; and Eugene Spencer Miller, former president of Leeb, 52, of Park Ridge, N.J. All are accused of aiding and abetting and failing to file suspicious transaction reports.